Statement of the Problem
In the article, the researcher has paid close attention to the findings and used them to explain his hypothesis on the reason as to why the Mexican women are reluctant to report cases of domestic abuse. However, the researcher has not paid close attention to the literature that would help in the formulation of the hypothesis for the project. This work does not therefore blend literature and research in an appropriate way to clearly define the phenomenon of interest, i.e. factors influencing disclosure of abuse by women of Mexican origin.
Qualitative research mainly entails detailed verbal descriptions of characteristics, cases, settings, people or systems obtained by interacting with, interviewing, and observing the subjects (Thomson, 2007). The author clearly explains why the subject matter calls for qualitative research method to help in the identification of the issues and explicitly tackle the issue of abuse of women of Mexican origin. In addition, the qualitative research method would enable the researcher to undertake the study on different perspectives, which would help in identification of the viewpoint of women of Mexican descent on violence subjected towards them.
The philosophical underpinnings of the research are clearly described. Generally, philosophical underpinnings capture the meanings and inconsistencies among certain groups of people (Jaye, 2002). The research clearly explains the reasons why women of Mexican descent are reluctant to report cases of violence towards them by their partners. In addition, to undertake an effective qualitative research, there must be a priori knowledge (Jaye, 2002).
This is clearly illustrated in the literature that is used in the research. Qualitative research is also interpretive as it tries to understand the values, experiences, opinions and behaviors of other people (Jaye, 2002). Moreover, the findings of the research are based on Mexican women who are in different settings, hence enabling a better interpretation of the information.
Purpose
The purpose of conducting the research is made very clear, as it incorporates public health, criminal justice, and human rights perspective on the study on violence against women of Mexican origin. The author looks at the various perspectives of violence on women, either physical or emotional perpetrated by an intimate partner or someone who used to be intimate to them. The author also disregards the severity of the violence in undertaking the research.
Violence on women ultimately affects their health and medical conditions.
The author clearly explains the relevance of the study to nursing, which tries to come up with methods, which may help in encouraging women living with intimate partner abuse (IPA) to disclose to the nurse. The author proposes that nurses should ask a few questions that will encourage disclosure, rather that not ask any questions, as the women are generally not willing to disclose IPA if not asked mainly because they may feel embarrassed. However, even after being asked, women may still not disclose, or they may lie or may deny living with IPA.
Method
The research findings are highly dependent on the method used to collect data. Use of data collection methods, which are not compatible with the purpose of the research usually leads to unreliable or unfitting results. The main purpose of the research is to determine factors that contribute to the non-disclosure of violence on women of Mexican origin. Therefore, in undertaking the research, several women of Mexican origin are put to test.
In this research, a sample of women who have been proved to be living with IPA, as well as other categories of Mexican women are used to collect the data. This category of women include those over the age of 18 years, any woman of Mexican descent and women who were unknown to the author. By incorporating other categories of women who have not reported cases of domestic violence being subjected to them, the author tries to get the opinion of women on the domestic violence and hence determine the possibility of them reporting cases of living with IPA, should they be faced with such a situation.
In addition, some of the women in this category may in fact be living with IPA but are generally denying or lying on the possibility of living with IPA. Therefore, by incorporating the view of people in this category, the researcher ensures that the findings will be as accurate as possible. However, the research does not measure the frequency of the domestic violence on the women to determine the severity of the IPA and hence determine the relationship between IPA and reporting. In addition, the researcher does not factor the age of the women to determine the reluctance to report cases of violence. Therefore, though the method of data collection used tackles most of the issues, it does not explicitly tackle all the issues involved in IPA and non-disclosure by the women.
Sampling and Data Collection
The researcher describes the selection of the participants in the study. These include women who have a history of domestic violence, those 18 years and above, of Mexican descent and those who are not known to the author. However, the description of women who were involved in the research is ambiguous as the author describes some of those who belong to the same category but they were classified separately.
Purposive sampling is one of the methods employed in the collection of data for qualitative research. In the purposive non-random sampling, the number of people who are used in the collection of data is generally not important; the most significant factor is the criteria used to select people used in the research (Wilmot, n.d.). In the research, the author uses 26 women to determine their reluctance to report cases of abuse. This number is generally small to enable the researcher find out the reasons why the Mexican women in general are reluctant to report cases of domestic violence subjected towards them. However, the criteria used to select the sample makes the research findings relevant to the Mexican women in general.
The informants who were chosen for the collection of the data are appropriate to inform the researcher on the information that is relevant to the study. This is generally due to the fact that the informants had at one time denied the existence of violence subjected towards them by their partners. Hence, they can give first hand information to the researcher on the reasons as to why Mexican women are reluctant to disclose incidences of IPA. Hence, by selecting these women, the researcher ensures that he factors in human experience into the findings. In addition, the researcher factors in the enquiry on children of the participants that underpins the human experience of the study.
The data collection strategies are vital in determining the outcome of a research project. The strategies that are employed are mainly dependent on the sample size and the available budgetary allocation for the project (Wilmot, n.d.). The data collection strategies directly determine the outcome of research studies. Hence, they should be clearly outlined in any research. The collection of data for the research was via semi-structured questionnaire, which was used to provide narrative response to the questions.
Data saturation occurs at the point when the researcher has asked as many questions to the respondent as possible such that any other question that he may ask may not have any significance in the study. The primary author asked the respondents as many questions as possible and stopped when data saturation occurred.
In any research, the credibility is dependent on the method of collection of the data for the study. In the research, the author clearly explains the procedures that were taken in the collection of the data. In addition, measures must be taken to determine the accuracy of the data obtained. In this case, the researcher used the Short Acculturation Scale for Hispanics (SASH), a very reliable method that is used to determine the accuracy of information provided by Hispanics based on the language used.
Human Subject Protection
Protection of human subjects in a research project is an issue that is considered very vital in any research. There are various methods used to protect the human subjects in any research. These human subjects can be protected through informed consent to participate in the research (Williams, 2005), and through code-naming of the participants of the study to protect their identity. In the research, informed consent was achieved verbally between the examiner and the participants of the study. In addition, the researcher used pseudonyms to obtain information for the study, thus protecting the identity of people involved.
Data Analysis
Several methods are used to analyze data in a qualitative research. The data from this research came from the interview transcripts from open-ended exploratory interviews. One of the methods used by researchers to analyze data is the constant comparative analysis, which was originally developed for use in the grounded theory methodology of Glaser and Straus (Thome, 2000). In this method, the research compares the different data, tries to come up with similarities or differences, and formulates questions to determine the reasons for the similarities or the differences. Constant comparative analysis is well suited to determine certain behaviors in humans, which can be explained by the fundamental human social processes (Thome, 2000).
This method has been used by the author in the research. The author clearly explains to the reader, the processes that were undertaken in the analysis of the research data from the code-naming to processing data to determining the demographic factors using a computer package known as Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). In addition, peer-debriefing sessions with a licensed professional counselor were done to enhance the rigor and prevent threat to validity of the data obtained from the research. Thus, the researcher remains true to the data obtained from the research.
Every qualitative research must be credible to have any significance. To address credibility of the research, data management with a professional in the specific field of research is required to offer explanation on certain phenomenon, which may not be clear to the investigator. In undertaking the research the researcher does frequent peer debriefing sessions with a qualified professional counselor to address the credibility of the data obtained. In addition, peer reviews with other qualitative researchers were done to clarify the findings of the study.
Audibility of the research helps in understanding it. Thus, for the research to be audible, the processes must be clearly documented, which were undertaken in carrying out the study to the reader. The reader can easily follow the thinking of the researcher in undertaking certain measures. Here, the researcher questions women on whether they knew the existence of the shelter for people living with IPA to determine whether some of the them fail to go to the shelter due to lack of knowledge or they may know of the existence of the shelter, but are simply not responsive towards it.
Most of the research findings have a wide area of application. Hence, the above research can be used in various situations, which are outside the study situation. The research findings may be used by counselors in formulating treatment therapies for Mexican women who are living with IPA. In addition, the research findings may help in criminal litigations on abusive partners. Thus, the findings of the research may be of great interest to other people who are not involved in the study.
As stated above, the research uses Constant Comparative Analysis to analyze the data. The analysis strategy is most favorable for analysis qualitative data. In addition, the researcher uses media debriefing to determine the validity of the data. All the above ensure that the data is as accurate as possible for the analysis.
Findings
To help the reader understand the research findings, the researcher presents the findings of the research in a certain context, which the reader can clearly understand. In presenting the findings of the research, the research considers the fact that all women who were involved in the research so that, they had an obligation to care for their families. In most of the findings, the researcher tries to show disclosure of the IPA is generally not favorable to the women due to various factors, which are beyond their control.
The findings of the research explicitly explain the social and cultural conditions, which the Mexican women are faced with. The researcher explains the repercussions; which women may be faced with due to their disclosure of the IPA. The author also explains the attitudes by the family members and support, which may be offered upon reporting cases of IPA. All the above help the reader in forming a clear perspective of the experiences which the women are faced with which may encourage or discourage them from reporting cases of IPA.
The findings of the researcher show that willingness of the relevant people to listen to the women who are faced with IPA may increase the reporting of IPA to the relevant bodies. This is evidenced by the fact that the respondents of the research could go into great detail to explain how they were subjected to abuse.
Conclusions, Implications and Recommendations
The findings of the research can be used in a variety of areas. According to the author, the research findings can be used by policy makers to help in the formulation of necessary policies, which will help protect the Mexican women from IPA. In addition, the author explains on how the research findings can be used by healthcare providers. The formulation of recommendations reflects the true findings of the study in that they recommend the healthcare providers to ensure to ensure that they ask questions on IPA to encourage them to speak out on IPA.
The study was undertaken using a small sample; hence, the author recommends that future studies should be made using larger samples to determine various other settings, which affect the willingness to access the outreach services of the women of Mexican origin.
References
Jaye, C. (2002). Doing Qualitative research in general practice: Methodological utility and engagement. Family Practice, Vol. 19, No. 5. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Web.
Thome, S. (2000). Data Analysis in qualitative research. EBN notebook. BMJ.
Thomson, R. (2007). Qualitative research study design. Training in Research in Reproductive Health/Sexual Health Geneva 2007.
Williams, E.D. (2005). Federal Protection for Human Research Subjects: An Analysis of the Common Rule and Its Interactions with FDA Regulations and the HIPAA Privacy Rule. CRS Report for Congress.
Wilmot, A. (n.d.) Designing sampling strategies for qualitative social research: with particular reference to the Office for National Statistics’ Qualitative Respondent Register. Web.